Re: Helix gnome bug

From: Ian Peters <itp helixcode com>

To: mike redtux demon co uk

Cc: gnome-list gnome org

Subject: Re: Helix gnome bug

Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 08:54:37 -0400

On Thu, Aug 31, 2000 at 11:46:38AM +0100, mike@redtux.demon.co.uk wrote:
> Hi
> For the first time I installed Helix gnome (ie: the full works) rather than
> installing from source.
> The problem I came across is that one of the checks that the installer does
> is to check the distribution installed. Unfortunately it does this on the
> basis of checking a (very small) list against what is in ..version in /etc.
> If it doesn't match it bombs.
> I run definite linux on one of my PC's and knew enough to alter this.
> HOwever - Helix gnome is aimed at fairly newbie people so I think this
> should be altered or at least provde a FAQ or something about it.
Hi Mike,
The Helix GNOME installer and updater do indeed check for
characteristic files from the different distributions we support to
decide what packages to download and install on your system. If
the programs are unable to determine your distribution, they will
abort. This is because they are not supported distributions. There
is more to the packaging we do than just renaming the RPM's, and this
requires us to test each and every distribution we provide support
for.
I'm glad you were able to make your system work, but this is not
something we support. For the non-hacker users we are trying to make
GNOME easy for, it would be wrong for us to attempt to install on a
distribution we haven't tested for. For this reason, our tools will
continue to check for supported distributions, and if you want to
circumvent these checks, you'll have to do so by hand.
--
Ian Peters
itp@helixcode.com